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i REV. DR. TALMAGE. , THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN- ' DAY SERMON. ' i Subject: "The Gospel of Health." I < Text: "Till a dart strike through his liver.' ! ?Proverbs, vii, 23. 1 There is a fashion in sermonics. A com- ! paratively small part of the Bible is called on for texts. Most of the passages of Scripture, ( when announced at the opening of sermons, ( immediately divide theinselvtS into old discussions that we have heard from boyhood, | J and the effect on us is soporific. The auditor guesses at the start just what the preacher will say. There are very important chapters and verses that have never been preached from. "Much of my lifetime I am devoting to unlocking these gold chests and blasting open these quarries. We talk about the i heart, and sing about the heart, but if you refer to the physical organ that we call the heart, it has not half so much to do with spiritual health or disease, moral exaltation or spiritual depression, as the organ to the consideration of which Solomon calls us in the text, when he describes sin progressing "till a dart strike through his liver." Solomon's auatomical and physiological discoveries were so very great that he was nearly 3,000 years ahead of the scientists of his day. He, more than 1,000 years before Christ, seemed to know about the circulation of the blood, which Harvey discovered 1,019 vears after Christ, for when Solomon in lEcclesiastes, describing the human bod}', speaks of the pitcher at the fountain, he evidently means the three canals leading from the heart that receive the blood like pitchers. WKnn V?a eruiobo ir* T?/>r?1aCl'l?C^C nf tllfSl'lvPr 1 Z cord of life, be evidently means the spinal j manjpw, about which in our day Drs. Mayo and Carpenter, and Dal ton, and Flint, and Brown-Sequard have experimented. And P Solomon recorded in the liible thousands of : years before scientists discovered it, that in nis time the spinal cord relaxed in old age, producing the tremors of hand and head; P ''Or if the silver cord be loosed." j In the text he reveals the fact that he had ? studied that largest gland of the human sys? tem. the liver, not by the electric light of the $ modern dissecting room, but by the dim light r ot a comparatively dark age, and yet had f * *een its important function in the God-built castle of the human body, its selecting and secreting power, its curious cells, its clou- ? * gated, branching tubes, a divine workman- f ship in central, and right, and left lobe, and the hepatic artery through which God con- ? ducts the crimson tides, t >h. this vital organ J Is like the eye of God in that it never steeps. * Solomon knew of it and had noticed either in vivisection or post mortem what awful at- ? -tacks sin and dissipation make upon it, until with thp fiat of Almichtv God it bids the L body and soul separate, and the one it co:n- ( mands to the grave and the other it sends to ? judgment?a javelin of retribution, not \ glancing off or making a slight wounJ, but ? piercing it from side to side "till the dart F strike through the liver." Galen and Hippo- } crates ascribe to the liver the most of the world's moral depression, and the word P melancholy means black bile. I preach to you this morning the gospel of a health. In taking diagnosis of the diseases of the soul you must also take the diagnoses of the diseases of the body. As if to recog- ?j nize this, one whole book of the New Testa- :j _ ment was written by a physician. Luke was ? a doctor, and he dlscources much of physical ? effects, and he tells of the good Samaritan's P medication of the wounds by pouring in oil ? and w.ne, and recognizes hunger as a hin- !c dranoe to hearing the Gospel, so that the R 5.0were fed; and records the spare diet of !" the pro ligal away from home, and the extinguished eyesight of the beggar by the wayside, and lets us know of the hemorrhage of ^ ine wouiius 01 ma uyiux I/Uhsl uuu uit) miraculous post-mortem resuscitation. And j .any estimate of the spiritual condition that * does not include a'so an estimate of the j" physical condition is incomplete. First, let Christian people avoid the mistake that they are all wrong with God be- ' cause they sutler from depression of spirits. . Many a consecrated man has found his spir- 5 itual sky befogged, and his hope and heaven V" blot ted out, aud himself plunged chin deep in the Slough of Despond, and hss said: "My heart is not right with God,and I think I must j~ have made a mistake, and instead of being a ; child of light I am a child of darkness. No ri one can feel as gloomy as I feel aud be a Christian." And ho has gone to his minister J for consolation, and he has collected Flavel's ? books, and Cecil's books, and Baxter's books, ^ and read and read and read, and prayed and i: prayed and prayed, and wept and wept and wept, and groaned and groaned and groaned. ^ My brother, your trouble is not with fj the heart; it is a gastric disorder or a re- " bellion of the liver. You need a physician more than you do a clergyman. It is * not sin that blots out your hopa of he iven, zl hiithile. It not onlv vellows vour ovnbalI . and furs your tongue, and makes your head rj acbo, but swoops upon your soul in dejections ! and forebodings. The devil is after you. He has failed to despoil your character, and he F .does the next best thine for him?he ruffles your peace of mind, when he says that you 11 are not a forgiven soul, when he says that a. you are not right with God, when he says that you will never get to heaven, he lies, r You are jmstas sure of heaven as though you 11 were there already. But Satan, finding that ? he cannoi keep you out of the promised laud K of Canaan, nas determined that the spies E . ghall not bring you any of the Eschol grapes ^ beforehand, and that you shall have nothing ? but prickly pear and crab apple. You are just 11 as good now under the cloud as you were when *>. you were accustomed to rise in the morning 81 to pray and sing "Hallelujah, 'tis done." Edward Payson, sometimes so for up * on the mount that it seemed as if tho ^ centripetal force of earth could no longer f*. hold him, sometimes through a phys'cal dis- ~ order was so far down that it seemed as if the * nether world would clutch him. Glorious ^ William Cow per was as good as good could be, and will be loved in the Christian churc h " as long as it sings his hymn bogiuniug: ? "There is a fountain filled with hlood,'' and * his hymn beginning: "Oh, for a closer walk , witji God," and his hymn beginning: "What * various hindrances wc meet," and his hymn J beginning: "God moves in a mysterious " way." Yet so was he overcome of melon- } * cnoiy, or Diack Due, that it was oniv tniougn r the mistake of the cab driver, who took him * to a wrong place, instead of the river bank, 11 that he did not commit suicide. Spiritual condition so mightily affected by ? the physical state 1 What a great oppor- 11 tunity this gives the Christian physician, for ^ he can feel at the same time both the pulse of 1 the body and the pulse of the soul, and ho s can administer to both at once, and if modi- ? oine is needed he can give that, an i if spirit- 8 ual counsel is needed he can give that?an ? earthly and a divine prescription at the same 1 time?and call not only the apothecary of E earth, but the pharmacy of heaven. Ah, ? this is the kind of doctor I want at my bed- | Bide when I get sick, one that can not only J; pour out the right number of drops, but one Jwho can also pray. That is the kind of doc- 1 tor I have had in my house when sickness or ^ death came. I do not want any of your prof- * ligate or atheistic doctors around my loved 7 ones when the balances of life are trera- f bling. A doctor who has gone through the f1 medical college, and in dissecting room : has traversed the wonders of the human ? mechanism, and found no God in any of the labyrinths, is a fool, and cannot doctor me or * mine. But, oh, the Christian doctors! What a comfort they have been in many of our households. And they ought to have a warm place in our prayers, as well as praise on our tongues. Dear oil Dr. Skillman! My father's ( doctor, my mother's doctor, in the village t home. He carried all the confidences of t all the families fourteen miles around, 8 We all felt better as soon as we saw him en- t ter the house His face pronounced a beati- 1 tude before he said a word. He welcomed c all of us children into life, and he closed the i old people's eyes when they entered the last ( lumber. I think I know what Christ said t kitm wKan tha ftl/1 /WfAf tTfkfc t hmilfrh his 1 work. I think he was greeted with the < words: ''Come in, doctor. I was 6k-k and 1 ye visited me.I bless God that the number 1 of Christian physicians is multiplying, and i some of the stuil^ts of the medical colleges 1 .ere here to-dny. And 1 ban you, and I ble^ j yon, and I ordain you to the ten- 1 4er, beautiful, heaven descended work of a Christian physician, and when Kn take your iliploma from the ( ng Island Medical College to look after . the jwrishabte body, be sure also to get a diploma from the skies to look after the imperishable soul. Lot all Christian physicians { unite with ministers of the Gospel in persuad- f ing good people that it is not because God i3 1 against tbem that they sometimes feel depressed, but because of their diseased body. t Another practical use of this subject is for 1 the young. The theory is abroad that they i most first sow their wQd oats, and afterward t Michigan wheac. Let me break the delusion. Wild oata are generally sown in the liver, 1 onfl they can never be pulled up. They so I preoooupy that organ that there is no room f lor the implantation of a righteous crop. 1 . v. .. . ... i'ou see aged men about us at 80 erect, Jgile, splendid, grand old men. How much wild oats did thev sow between 1S years and X).' None, absolute uo.ie. Uod does not rery often honor with old age those who iave in early life sacrificed swine on the iltar of the bodily temple. Remember, O, poung man, that while in after life and after pears of di.-sipatio.'i you may perhaps have pour heart changed, religion does not change the liver. Trembling and staggering along these streets to-day are non, all bent and decayed and prematurely old for the reason that they are paying for lions they put upon their physical jstate before they were 30. By early dissipation they put on their body a tirst mortgage, md a second mortgage, and a third mortgage to the devil, and these mortgages are low being foreclosed, and all that remains cf :heir earthly estate the undertaker will soon put out of sight. Many years ago, in fulfillment of my text, a dart struck :hrough their liver, and it is there yet. God forgives, but outraged physical law never, lever, never. That has a Sinai, but no Cali-arv. Solomon in my text knew what he fvas" talking about He had in early life jeon a profligate, and he rises up on his ihrono of worldly splendor to shriek out a earning to all the centuries. David, bad in >arly life, but good in later life, cries out vith an agony of earnestness: "Remember lot the sins of my youth." Stephen A. Doug.'as gave the name ol ouatter sovereignty to those who went out .Vest and took possession of lands and held hem by right of preoccupation. Let a lock of sins settle on your heart before you ;et to 25 years of age, and they will in all >robability keep possession of it by an in. ormal squatter sovereignty. "I prom 90 to pay at the bank ?500 six months rom date," says the promissory note. ''I jromise to pay my life thirty years from late at the bank of the grave.'1 says every nfraction of the laws of your physical ?ing. What ? Will a man's body never coraletely recover from an early dissipation in his world? Never. How about the world o come? Perhaps God will fix it up in the asurreetion bodv so that it will not have to ;o limping through all eternity, but get the iver thoroughly damaged and it will stay lamaged. Physicians call it cancer of the iver, or hardening of the liver, or cirrhosis f the liver, or inflammation of the liver, or atty degeneration of the liver, but Solomon iuts all these pangs into one figure and says: 'Till the dart strike through his liver." That young man smoking cigarettes and moking cigars has no idea that he is getting or himself a smoked liver. That youug man as no idea that he has by early dissipation o depleted his energies that he will go into fie battle only half armed. Napoleon lost Vaterloo days before it was fought* Had he ttacked the English army before it was renforced, and taken it division by division, e might have won the day, but he waited mtil he had only 100,000 men against 20.1,000. Sind here is a young man who, if he put all lis foroi-s against the regiment of youthful emptations in the strength of God he might [rive them back, but he is allowing them to >e reinforced by the whole army of mid ife emptations, and when all these combined srces are massed against him and no Grouchy omes to help him, and Bluncher has come to elp his foes, what but immortal defeat can wa.thim? Some years ago a scientific lecturer went tirough the country exhibiting on great anvas different parts of the human body 'hen healthy and different parts when dislsed. And what the world wants now is ima eloauent scientist to eo throuzh the suntry showing to our young people on lazing canvas the drunkard's liver, the ller's liver, the libertine's liver, the gamier s liver,. Perhaps the spectacle might op some young man before he comes to the tme catastrophe, and the dart strike through is ow n liver. My hearer, this is the first sermon you have Bard on the gospel of health, and it may be le lastyou will ever hear on thatsubject; and charge you, in the name of God and Christ, ad usefulness and eternal destiny, take bet:r care Of your health. "When some of you ie, if your friends put on your tombstone a uthfui epitaph, it will read: "Here lies the ictim of late suppers," or it will be: "Be)ld what chicken salad at midnight will do >r a man;" or it will be: "Ten cigars a iy closed my earthly existence;" or it ill be: "Sat down in a cold draught id this is the result;" or it will >: "I died of thin shoes last winter;" or it ill be: "Went out without an overcoat and >ok this last chill;" or it will be: "Thought could do at 70 what 1 did at 20. and I am ?re;" or it will bo: "Here is the conscuence of sitting a half day with wet feet;'' it will be: "This is where I have stacked y harvest of wild oatsor, instead of ords the stone cutter will chisel for an )itaph on the tombstone two figures, name , a dart and a liver. ThofA ie a L-ir*H rvf cfr?L-nc*cc fViof. iq hpjnit.ifill hen it comes from overwork for God, or tie's country, or one's own family. I have ?n wounds that- were glorious. After the ittle of Antietam, in the hospital a soldier i reply to my question: "Where are you urt;'' uncovered his bosom and showed me a ash that looked like a badge of eternal 110ility. I have seen an empty sleeve that was tore beautiful than the most muscular forerm. I have seen a green shade over the eye :ot out in battle that was more beautiful lan any two eyes that had passed without ljury. 1 haves.' en an old missionary worn iit with the malaria of African jungles who >oked to me more radiant than a rul>icun<l ymnast. I have seeu a mother after six oeks' watching over a family of children own with scarlet fever with a glory round er pale and wan face that surpassed the allelic. It all depends on how you got your ckness and in what battle your wounds. My Lord and my God! if we must get sick nd worn out let it be in thy service, and in ie effort to make the world good and happy, rot in the service of sin. No! No' Ine of the most pathethic scenes that ever witnessei, and I often see it, is hat of men or women converted in the ifties or sixties or seventies wanting to be iseful, but they so served the world and Satan in the earlier part of their life that bey have no physical energy left for the serice of God. They sacrificed nerves, muscles, ungs, heart ana liver on the wrong altar. ?hey fought on the wrong side, and now, rhnn thair sword is all hacked un and heir ammunition all gone, they enlist or Emmanuel When their high metled cavalry horse, which they spurred nto many a cavalry charge with haniping bit and flaming eye and neck lothed with thunder, is worn out, and spavned, aud ring-boned, and, springhalt, he rides ip to the Captain of our salvation on he white horse and offers his services. When ueh persous might have been, through the ;ood habits of a lifetime, crashing the battle ix through helmotecl iniquities, they arc pending their days and nights in discussing he best way of breaking up their indi;estion, and aukting their jangling nerves, tnd rousing their laggard appetite, and trvug to extract the dart from their outraged iver. Better converted late than never! )h,yes; for they will get to Heaven. But hey will go afoot, when they might have vheeled up the steep hills of the sky in Elijah's chariot. There is an old hymn th '.t ?e used to 3ing in the country meeting louse when I was a boy, and I remember 10w the old folks' voices trembled with emoion while they sang it. I have forgotten all >ut two lines, but those lines are the peroraion of my sermon: Twill lare no from a thousand snares To mind religion yonng. "The Captain Was Drunk." - j.ne uupwiin was i'i-uuk is ine neauune jiven an article referring to the disaster of he "Vernon" on Lake Michigan. This is he second occurrence of the Kind within a ihorttime. Such criminal negligence merits ;he severest punishment. Human lives are ;oo precious to lie thus trifled with under the charge of an intoxicated brute?without eason and without principle. However, tho Government tolerates it, and no action is ;aken against the drunken wretches; and ;hose who declare their opposition to the sale >f that producing this result are pronounced 'anatics. It is probable that were the world peopled with a few more "fanatics," there night be less misery, and fewer disasters, as treU as a gratifying decrease in that disease mown as general cussedness.?IV'esf G'rove [Pann.) Independent Temperance News and Notes. Tho Queen Regent of Spain has prohibited he importation, manufacture or sale of iinjure alcohol. The National Women's Christian Temperince Union held its annual convention at S'ashville, Tenn., November lGtli to 20th nelusive. A Chair of Political Economy and Scienifie Temperance, the first of its kind, has >een created in the Memorial Collego at \tliens, Tennessee, and tho Rev. W. W. Satierleo aurointed ta till it The Cumberland Presbyterian, of Nashrille, says: "There are three hundred Cumberland'Presbyterian ministers in Tennessee, uid there is not one of this number, so far as we know who is not a Prohibitionist. ! TEMPERANCE. The Price of a Drink. "Five cents a glass!'1 Does any ono think j That this is really the price of a drink? "Five cents a glass," 1 heard you say, j "Why, that isn't very much to pay." j Ah, no, indeed, 'tis a very small sum j You are passing over 'twixt finger and thumb: j And if that were all that you gave away, j It wouldn't be very much to pay. j The price of a drink I Let him decide j Who has lost his courage and lost his pride; ! And lies a groveling heap of clay,1 i Not far removed from a beast to-day. j The price of a drink I JLet that one tell i Who sleeps to-night in a murderer's cell, j And feels within him the fires of hell, j Honor and virtue, love and truth, j All the glory and pride of youth, Hopes of manhood, the wreath of fame, I High endeavor and noble aim. j These are the treasures thrown away j As the price of a drink, from day to day. I "Five cents a glass!'1 How Satan laughed, j As over the bar the young man quaffed j The beaded liquor, for the demon knew The terrible work that drink would dol | And before the morning the victim lay i With his lifo-blood swiftly ebbing away; | And that was the price ho paid, alas! | For the pleasure of taking a social glass. ; The price of a drink! If you want to know i What some are willing to pay for it, go ? Through that wretched tenement over there, j With dingy windows and broken stair, 1 Where foul disease, like a vampire crawls ! With outstretched wings o'er the mouldy walls. There poverty dwells with her hungry brood, Wild-eyed as demons for lack of food; There shame, in a corner, crouches low; There violence deals its cruel blow; The innocent ones are thus accursed | To pay the price of another's thirst. "Five cents a glass!" Oh, if that were all, j The sacrifice would, indeed, bo small! ] But the money's worth is the least amount ! I We pay; and "whoever will keep account | Will learn the terrible waste and blight j That foliows the ruinous appetite. | "Five cents a glass!-' Does any one think j That is really the price of a drink? Josephine Pollard, in Harper's Bazar. Prohibition in Rhode Island. Dr. D. A. Whedon. of Providence, R. I., in a late letter to the Northern Christian Advocate, gives an interesting account of the j origin or the movement for constitutional I prohibition in that State, of its adoption by the popular vote, of the subseqnent action of the Legislature, of the hostility of the Providence Journal to prohibition and to Chief Bravton, of the obstac les in the way of enforcement, and also of the gratifying success of the prohibitory law despite the opposition of the liquor-men and their political allies. We uuote from this letter as follows: "The n port has gone abroad that prohibition in Rhode Island is a failure. Last week I was in Newport, the only town in the world j where I have over seen a flaunting liquor banner flung across the chief business street, and no open saloon greeted my vision. The reformation extends throughout the State. We here think it a great gain over our former experience. At the same time it must be confessed that the success has not been such as a fair trial of the law would have given, or as we expect in the future. ..." After referring to the political conflicts, the nf nilminwf.rntinn thn rosienation Of Bray ten, and the appointment of tLe present Chief Curtis, he writes: "It is true from April until near July there was great laxity in tho enforcement of the law. Great doubt existed as to what the May Legislature would do; every body was waiting, and the newspaper were pounding the law and the law-makers. Mo: eover, Mr. Curtis required time to learn his duties and powers, and would not move until he was equipped and ready. This was the worst period of the year, tho period in which the loudest assertions were made of the free and open sale of liquors. They were not true. One of the surest tests is in the comparison of arrests for ] three months ending July 1,1S87, with acori responding period of the preceding yiar i under licsnse. Tho comparison shows a de] crease of arrests, as follows: "Chief Curtis got fairly at work in July, j Thirty-five raids in one day with search J warrants convinced the public, and especially 1 the dealere, that he meant business. The ! liquors thus seized are assayed, and if con- ' i dernned, destroyed. The owner is then ar1 rested for 'keeping for sale,' and when that is ! disposed of he is arrested again for maintain ing a nuisance Thus in one way or another I about^'O cases, involving as many features I of law as possible, will be ready for the Sep| tember and December courts. The traffic is Iriven from the puoac gaze ana compeueu vu Aide itself and do its \ ile work in secret. This ( is no small gain. And tlie reader may be assured that the law is now as honestly enforced as is any other on the statute-book. There is, however, much work to be done, and there is a lixed purpose to do it as far as the machinery of tho law will go. Meanwhile it will probably continue to be said that j more rum is sold than ever. If so why the | anti-temperance cry against the law?" Boycotted by the Girls. The progress of temperance principles among the young Irish-Americans of the coal i region within the last ten years is simply j without a parallel in the history of temper! ance reform. In fact, the temperance feeling ' is now so strong that no young man can enter J the charming circle of female society unless i he is Jin avowed temperance man aud wea' s I the Father Matthew badge. It has now come to such a pass that the young Irish-American ; I ladies will have nothing to do with tho man ! that drinks. By raising this boycott against ; the boys the girls have played the part of true I j temperance missionaries, in that they suo i I eeeded in driving the youn ? men into the so- 1 i cieties. An illustration of this was seen in ] me icnvn 01 ctjuvor juo.iuu>i itui, uou | all the gir.'s in the place combined and re| solved that they would not uccept the atten- ; I tion of any young man until he had first i j signed the pledge and joined the St. Aloysius I Society. For a while it was thought that the , j young ladies were not \n earnest, and that | I the boycott would soon be lifted. But the 3*oung ladies were determined, and when the ! young fellows found this out they surreni dered.and forthwith there was a rush for ad! mission into the local temperance society. , j The latter is now in a very nourishing condi- < | tion. Of those who join these temperace so! cieties about ten out of forty "fall from grace;" in other words, go back to drink. ( But t lie deserter's downfall does not last long. , After his debauch he sees the folly of his ways and thinks how happy he was when he | was sober. ! But this is not the worst. All his friends j are traveling in an opposite direction, and , shun the outcast altogether. The result is < that a man who breaks his pledge becomes , disgusted with himself and returns to the ! society. After taking the pledge for a second , time he hardly ever goes back to drink again. ; The number who break the pledge a second ! time is only one in seventy. A member who , ! forfeits his membership in a society forfeits ! all his dues paid into the treasury by him. ' All the societies are beneficial, and take good , ! care of the sick, wide m and orphans. The i I c?.. A 1 our;it?,icn ' UU x%iujrj?iua kjwiowj f ui *? uiwf?uaiic, uao iw | ^ i names on its rolls and over $7,000 in its trcas- . ! ury. The Father Mathew Society and the , | Father Mathew Cadets have 200 more memi bers. Every society has a handsome uni- j i form.?Brooklyn Citizen. Personal Liberty. I The blindest of the Hind are those who will 1 not see that the Personal Liberty movement in its present form is but the forerunner of a j mighty assault upon the system of legal re- ( straint which society, acting under the impulse of self-protection, lias imposed upon the liquor trntlic. The leaders of the movement , boldly announce that this is but tha beginning , of a warfare which is to be thrust uj>on tlie people in the campaign for the next legislature, and to evade it or tempor ze with it lliitv ic milvlrt ?.i vmitvt rro mnl invito tn n more desperate effort next year. The voter i who fails to catch the tiue meaning of the i Personal Liberty movement has only his stupidity or stubbornness to blnnu for it. It j means, as its leaders unhesitatingly proclaim, that the Sunday laws must be abolished; that the saloons shall have the right to do business seven days in the week, and that the high-license act shall be repealed.?Philadelphia Press. According to Dr. B. W. Richardson, if all the public houses in the United Kingdom were grouped together, they would make a city of -1 >0,000 houses, with 900,000 inhabitants, and with attendants and frequenters, of a city the size of London. - I * \ 1 \ i RELIGIOUS READING. Tliankiigtvlng Hymn. Once more the rolling year brings round The day when festal joys abound; Our land, from East to Western sea, Sends up united praise to Thee. Why should we thank Thee, Lord of all? What are Thy gifts that daily fall And yoarly crown us with thair store, That we have oft received before? These are Thy gifts 1 We thank Thee, Lord For harvests yielding rich reward; Pop orchard's fruitaere. full and free. And plenty's reign from sea to sea. We thank Thee, Lord, that peace is ours; That o'er our land no war-cloud lowers^ That we have rulers strong in right "Who rule our nation in Thy sight. We thank Thee, Lord, for evil crushed, That wives and mothers bowed in dust, May hail the dawn of that glad hour, That breaks in twain the ruin-fiend's power We thank Thee, Lord, for friendship spared For dear love given, taken, shared; For infant treasurer lent us here, For swoet home-fires, to bless and cheer. Help us to say, "We thank Thee, Lord," uri > . r* Liu11 uuai gravoa uvu uuo luvaaj otcwu, When hopes lie buried 'neath the sod, and we are crushed by Thy stern rod. Help us to praise in hours of pain. With quivering heart and throbbing brain When weak, pale hanls close folded lie, While all the world goes hurrying by. So we would thank Thee, Lord of all, For every gift Thy hand lets fall, For joy, for sorrow, pleasure, pain, Let all Thy people say, "Amenl" Getting Ready for It. We have more than once called attentioi to the danger that "the Week of Prayer' which our churches are accustomed to ob servo at the opening of the new year, may de generate into a sort of Protestant Lent?i hollow and heartless bit of religious formal ism, followed, so far as it is followed, at all by the simulacrum of a revival, an unsub stantial and illusory "work of grace." We have done this through no dispositioi to throw discredit on the Week of Prayer or to interfere in the least with its observ ance. Realizing, however, the tendency o all stated religious exercises to drift int formalism, and believing that we detected i special tendancy in this direction, so far a the Week of Prayer is concerned, we hav< raised a note of warning in order, possibly to avert the danger that we feared. Wa Ki?inrr f/\ Ani? rnuHnra nnw an nKonliiti H V Kf t Utg WV VU? WMV(V*0 ?4w?r MU uuuuak... specific for that danger, which we gatheret from the prayer-meeting talk of a goo< brother two or three weeks ago. "I supposi we are to have a Week of Prayer pretty soon," he said, "and I am getting ready foi it." Ah! we thought, there is the remedj against any possible degeneration of th< Week of Prayer into a bit of non-ritual ritu alism. If a week of public prayer can b< superinduced upon two or three months o private preparation for it by the individua members of our churches, what a blessing i1 will be to our churches. Following th< Christmas holidays, very much as the Romai Catholic Lent follows the Carnival, the sea son especially set apart for devo tion too frequently finds our churches more than ordinarily unproparec for special religious effort Half of th< Week of Prayer is practically wasted in do ing work which might a good deal better b done in the closet and about the family altar As the period set apart for special prayei draws to a close^how often is the remark hean "Why, we are just getting ready to enjoy i and be benefitted by it." Might we not, am should we not, bring to the Week of Praye: a greater degree of readiness to receive t blessing from it? Is there not a practical sug gestion that is worth thinking about in oui brother's remark: "I suppose we are to havi a Week of Prayer pretty soon; and I an getting ready for it"??[Examiner an< Chronicle. The Garment of Praise. Thursday, Nov. 24, is tho day appointed bj the civil authority for a public remembranc* of the great goodness of the Lord to us as in dividuals and as a nation. Thanksgiving used to be appointed only by each State; bu1 now it is designated Jby national authority and will be uniformly observed throughou the whole realm. This lends greater dignity and consequence to an occasion which pos sesses intrinsic reasons enough for its genera and grateful observance. We ought to bo a thankful people. Has God eve* so denlt with any people? Look a our magnificent domain; did ever nation be fore have such an inheritance? Look at oui vast privileges; was ever pooplo more highly favored? Look at our great prosperity; did ever a people before grow so rapidly anc greatlj m all the advantuges and blessings ol 1 iUV IUCIIV/C I Then, first and chiefest of all, there is God's unspeakable gift, his dear Son. Wher the prophet foresaw what God would do foi his people at the incarnation of his Son, h< said: ''I will appoint unto them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of joy foi mourning, the garment of praise for th< spirit of heaviness." Now that Christ haa come, has borne our sins in his own body or the tree, has wrought out an everlasting righteousness for us, what is it but unbeliel that prevents our putting on this garment ol praise? Why should not tho oil of joy it princely fullness run down tho beard, even tx tho skirts of our garments? If wo mope ir the ashes of a selfish sorrow or morbid intra spection, what but unbelief and distrust fathers it? A great many Christians are sickly and pining for want of this garment of praise. Like spiritual hypochondriacs they are perpetually feeling "the pulse, and shaking the bead, and lugubriously declaring in covenant meetings that it is all over with them; they have no rwaco of mind; and they dc not know whether they are Christians or not Poverty-stricken soul! think what Chrisl has done, and get up and praise God. Cloth< yourself with the garment of praise. Get uj out of the as&es, ana put me curis&oning on upon your head. Stop feeling your pulse, and counting its boats...You will always he? spiritual Hypochondriac while you do this, Look ut the Cross. One notable and noble characteristic of the Psalms is that the writers are generally wrapped in this garment of praise. The Bwolling joyousucss is not so manifest in the first Psalms; but they are cumulative ir this; and the further "you go through tht book, the more the holy enthusiasm kindles and glc'ni; until at last a?tec calling on. hi soul to bless the Lord, and all that is witliln him to magnify his holy name, after calling on everybody to help him praise God, and all the nations to be glud to sing for joj-. th< sacred Book of Praise ends in one gushing call upon everything to praise the Lord [Trumpets, psalteries, harps, timbrels, dances, stringed instruments, organs, symbals. every thing that hath breath, or into which joyful Bod lovers can put breath, must join t( praise the Lord. Wo want more "praise meetings" in oui churches, more "services of song," in whicl in happy vespor-hours we can come togother with glad voices and instruments of music and sing ourselves into the sweetness of th< ? J ? ?"*?<? J T Atm /?VinrrtVi luvt) dim praiyi ul uuu. jlnu uiu try the "praise meetings," and come into joy (ul sympathy ivith the blessed saints of old who wrote: "0 como let us sing unto the Lord; let us makn a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul; and all that is within me, bless hii holy nama" "0 give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for9ver." "Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presenoe with sineine: for th? Lord is good, his imrcy is everlasting.I Is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, 0 Most High." Let us wrap ourselves in the garments of mrth npnicA' ahH wa sh?ll nonie into blessed and joyful sympathy with it?(Rev. T. J. Millish. A Barkeeper's Admission. A lurtender of wide experience mournfully admits that the temperance movement had reached tho rum shops. Ho says: "I have noticed that drinkers on tho nveruge pour out less than they did. I have tended l>ar in nearly every iirst-class hotel in the country, and used to run on the lower Mississippi river. Tho drinks that I have seen poured out would stagger me, and I have been a pretty good drinker. They used to take it straight. It is seldom now that you hear a man ask for whiskey straight. It is something on the side, or a little sugar and water. I have noticed this tendency to kin 1 of weaken liquor for a long time, and 1 think as how the prohibition is getting in its work. I am sorry to say this, for I nave alwaysbeen one of tho kind as thought it was a sin to water whiskey, or eYeu put sugar into it." ; i : . BUDGET OF FUN. HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Many Difficulties?She Felt So, Too? Happiness AII Round?The Father's Complaint?The Burglar Was In Luck, Etc. rrno <?? ? nn nrfiaf. " cnifl fho tnllfn. WU JV/II CUV/ UU Ul IluI.-J kW4%? WMV live old lady to the young rnau whom she met on the train. ''Yes, madam." "I suppose you have many difficulties in your profession, don't you ?" "Yes," replied the young man meekly, "there are a great many posers."?Mer:hant-Traveler. She Felt So. Too. "Laura," said the young man, despair' ingly, "I know it is growing late, but this may be the last evening I shall ever jee you. If there is no hope for me, Laura?if your answer this night is a final one?there is no happiness for me in this world except in the grave. Wide ind deep it yawns before me, but I fear it not. It yawns" "So do I,George; so do I," said Laura, ' wearily.?(jliicajo Tribune. Happiness All Round. Bobby had been a pretty good little ooy all day and his father was very much pleased. "You will find, Bobby," said the old man, "that virtue is its own reward. I mean that every time you do what you i aught to do you will feel good over it. ' Do you understand?" " "Oh, yes," responded Bobby, intelli* gently, "and now, pa, if you'll give me . mother piece of pie you'll feel good,too." , ?Ntw York Sun. t The Burglar Was in Luck. , Air. Foots?"Where is that burglar, Maria? "Where is he? Where's the ? villain gone?'* t Mrs. Foots?"Gone to the stations house. Oh, dear, I'm so distracted. A 9 policeman came and took him. Oh, John, why did you leave me all alone when the j alarm rung and run into the garret;" 1 "Why aid I run into the garret? I 1 keep my arms in the garret, that's why." 3 "But you've been gone an hour." "Took over an hour to oil up my gun j and grind my hatchet. But it's lucky 3 for the burglar that my aims were not in order.?Ttxaa Si/tings. > Bills in His Desk. i Pretty Cousin (in young lawyer's office j ?"That is a beautiful desk, Charley I" 1 Young lawyer (.complacently)?"Yes, 1 and it's so convenient. Thatpigeon^ hole, you sec, Maude, is marked 'Bills I Payable,' the next one 'Bills Receiv#ble' ? and?' I'retty Cousin?"What a quantity of ? Bills Payable, Charley!" Young lawyer?'' Well-er-Yes." ? .a- /-i n A _ J 4.1. - m.'ll. 1 .rrcuy V/OUSIO? iiuu vue ?>1113 x\o* ceivable' pigeon-hole i3 quite empty." J Young lawyer?"Er-a-a-wcll, Ihuv?'nt ! got the desk fixed up yet, Maude." Pretty Cousin?'"Oh!"?Epoch. a The Father's Complaint, i A tall Missourian called at the district school and, eyeing the teacher sternly, said: "My boy Henry tells me you whipped r him last evening." s "Yes," assented the teacher, edging - toward the door, "but he deserved it, I ? assure you." "And he says you used a rawhide on t him:" r "Yes, sir, but " " "And you slapped him with your . hands as well?"' i ' 'I did, but I assure you " t "Assure nothin'. Let me give you a pointer. When you have to punish that boy use a club, ile doesn't care forraw[ hides."?Nebraska State Journal. I f A Th nno In tho 1\T A??n i 11 He was leaning agninst the lamp-post, | and the watchful guardian of the night r; came up very respectfully. > i "Fine night, Mr. Jones." | "Bootiful." " "You're out rather late, ain't you?" j "No* no?about my usual time." i "Are you waiting for somebody?" I "No, ho?going home. A little tired, [ that's all; a little tired." : "III walk down with you and see you ) to your door." k "Thank you, thank you, but there's no aced. The other side of the block will be 'round this way in a moment, and I'll I just pop in when my door comes along. Thank you. Good night. ? Blood Will Tell. Charlie, aged eight, brought home a \ slinking yellow pup, bow-legged, droop. ing-tailed and shame faced. He cared : for it tenderly, fixed a dry-goods box in 5 the back yard for a kennel, and on every > A/uMcinn ovViihifr>rJ flip animal pUSSIUKs U\.VUJ*wu .Mv proudly. Ilis sister, Ella, age eighteen, i asked him facetiously: "Where did you get that dog?'' "I bought him from a man for twentv' five cents," with the pride of ownership. , ".Mercy! The idea of paying twentyi five cents for that horrible beast!" > Charlie's eves flashed indignantly. 5 "He isn't horrid. That shows how much 5 a girl knows. The man told me he is a full-blooded cur."?Portfolio. I Ileal Neighborly. \ The family had just moved into the ' neighborhood, and their social status \ had not yet been delined, when a small - boy appeared at the nearest house and , 1 politely said. } "Ma's complements, an' ken yer loan I . her a fryin' pan?'' ? Tho frvimr pan was duly loaned, and j ' in a few moments buck came the boy. ; "Ma's complements?kin yer let her ( hev a pound of pork to grease the pan?" After some deliberation the pork was I given, und the neighbars were rehearsing the circumstances when agaiu the small | boy: ! "Ma's complcrments, an'hev vera sup ; of tea to wash down the pork?" But they drew the line at tea.?Detrni 1 Free Press. I The Ear Trumpet Was Missing. AnTionored guest at one of the uptown hotels recently was a portly and dignified old lady. She was dressed in rustling black silk, and a stiff white cap, and even the clerk was awed by her presence and conversation. It was a highly edifying sight at meal hours to watch the head waiter obsequiously <.onveying this piece of ancient respctabilitv 1...11 ? e,10? Tnornoc'. across tne ammfi mm ing deafness led the old laily always to carry an ear trumpet with her. but the I presence of that implement did not detract from the inipressivcnoss of the scene. The ceremony of seating having been duly performed, she would order her meal, and the waiter having humbly dropped a few words of explanation or suggestion into the business end of the tiumpet, would depart on his mission. 1 It happened, however, a few mornings ! a<ro that the old lady reached th'j break fast table without her truJfcpet. She did not seem troubled at forgetting it, bul adjusting her glasses inspected the bill ol fare and ordered breakfast, concluding with a request for some fishballs. "Three ain't any fishballs,ma'am,"said the waiter, respectfully. "I prefer them done brown, "she said. "There ain't any fishballs this morning." "And I wish you would tell the cook not to fry them in lard. Use a little piece of salt pork." "There ain't any?" "And wait a moment. Tell her to be very careful not to use halibut for fishballs instead of codfish. I understand it is frequently done." "There ain't any lishballs to-day," repeated the waiter in loud tones. "You really ought not to serve fishballs every day, John," she said, pleasantly. "The old New England way was to have them for Suuday breakfasts.'' "Thereain't any lishballs," shouted the waiter. "Yes, serve them with parsley." The unfortunate waiter glanced helplessly about, and then bending down to the old lady's ear, in tones that proclaimed it to the entire dining room, he roared out again: "There ain't no fishballs to-day 1" "Why didn't you say so, then? John," she added, gaziug at the flushed waiter severely over her spectacles, "I think you have been drinking. You have been muttering to yourself there for the last five minutes. Nevermind about the fishballs, but I shall report you to the clerk." ?New York Tribune. A Fifty-One Ponnd Gold Nnsget. A Ballarat (Australia) letter to the Melbourne Anjus, says: This morning an extraordinary incident in the recent mining history of the colony occurred, when an immense nugget, weighing about fifty-one pounds, of pure gold, was unearthed in the now famous Midas ?4- Qit1U?r riiilltr Tl>ia rninA la An imuc Ob tjumj VUliJ. . jl 1110 uuuv tw vu the property of Sir William Clarke,known as Dowling Forest, and on several occasions lately nuggets varying in size,'1 though small, have been obtained. Today's discovery, however, eclipses anything of the kind that has been known in Victoria for many years. The news of it created considerable excitement in this city. The first public information was obtained in a rather curious manner. A man was observed by a large crowd of shareholders, who congregate on the corner,to be walking down Sturtstreet,carrying a sack containing what to appearance was like a small pig; but his strange burden was found to be the nugget, and he was followed by an excited and questioning crowd. The nugget is flat and has something the contour of a colossal hand held open, with the thumb and fingers close together. Its greatest length is 12$ inches, and breadth 8? inches, and it varies in thickness up to 2\ inches. It is apparently pure gold, and weighs G17 ounces. It was found in the northwest main drive, in the direction of the No. 2 drive, 120 feet from the surface, and at a spot 50 feet Irom where the Lady Brassey nugget was recently found. A cast will betaken of the nugget before it is broken up. It is estimated to contain 51 pounds of pure gold, worth about ?51 per pound, and the find represents an addition to the company's revenue of ?2,000 (about $13,000). A Caspian Lilly. A still more pleasant afternoon I spent in visiting the haunts of the far-famed Nymph of the Caspian, writes Edmund Noble in the Atlantic Monthly. Neither rock nor whirlpool besets the approach to this coy beauty, but as the siren can be seen only in her bath, from the luxurious heat of which she draws not a few of her charms, one might well be led to prefer both Scylla and Charybdis to the peril of the brink to which this fascinator lures unsuspecting travelers at Chyulpan. Yet the danger is much more apparent than real. The Nympha Caspica has broken up no households and precipitated no fatricidal wars; the worst that can be said against her is that she has planted a deep and never-to-be-satisfled longing in the heart of botanical Europe. Mfen of science, tender in thcii admiration of her beauty, and wishing to see it flourish elsewhere, have carried hei virtues to foreign parts in vain. This tall, lily-like flower, with its overflowing bulb of tender pink, bearing its seeds in a punctured gourd, and bathed far up its 1 - -1 K ? Aaw nf sienaer sium uy u tummuiu uv?? v* .. v.. nigh boiling water, mysteriously renewed?this queen of desert, unpopulous Chyulpan, scattering her perfume ovei land and sea, is the unique product ol unique conditions, and can no more be transplanted than the Caspian itself. Three Snake Stories. A kitten at Portland, Oregon, was seen to charm a rattlesnake. The snake was coiled, and with its head followed every motion of the kitten. The kitten seemed to realize the importance of the situation, and never allowed her atten-' tion to wander from the snake. The snake was killed. James Houston, of Cane Ilill, Ark., was awakened by a noise under his bed the other night. He lighted a lamp, and looking under, thought he saw a cat; but when he poked it with a cane, a uir. fnni-n rami! nut and offered battle. lie drove it back under the bed, took bis wife to u neighbor's for safety, and went back and killed the serpent with a pitchfork. It measured 11 feet 9 inches in length, bad stripes running diagonally around its body, and bad recently swallowed three young kittens. The Eastman (Me.) Journals ays: "Mr. John II. Giddcns, of this county, tells quite a singular incident which occurred to him a few mornings since. He went to the well to draw a bucket of water, returned to the house and proceeded to make a tire preparatory to getting breakfu-t. While Mr. Giddens was busy at these morning duties, he thought his hat fit him rather closely, but he did not give the matter any further attention. When he went out. however, to bathe his face and hands, he laid his hat aside, and (rut crawled a venomous-lookine snake measuring three feet in length. The Quail-Kuling Fallacy. A leading New York physician, well known not only as an able surgeon, but an advanced scientist, ridicules the idea that it is at all difficult for any one to cat a single or more quail for any given number of days. He says that game of any kind may be eaten as a steady diet just us well as can beef or pork. He cites the fact that sailors eat salt pork?a pound a day for 1,000 tluys?and what, he adds, is worse than sailors' pork? During his activo connection with the army iu the West, many years ago, he ate prairie chickcn every day for months, and was glad to get it, and subsequently ate sage-hens for a long time, and did not get sick or bccome nauseated. lie concludes by saying that the mental disturbance caused by the fear of not being able to cat a quail a day for a given time, ou a wage?, is all that there is in th$ pro^ vailing idea in not being able to do it.? New Orleans Tima-Democr.it% I - 'V^ . ! JAPANESE JAILS. 1 I . ; HARSH TREATMENT RECEIVED BY PRISONERS. Kept in a Case for Six Months Without Trial?A Scanty Food Allowance ? Severities of Orient Life. A Japanese jail, or house of detention. is the first place to which prisoners are brought, questioned and locked up in email cages to await trial. The cells or cages are small affairs, ten by ten feet square, the sides made of strong wooden bars. In this place from six to ten prisoners are confined at a time?crowded f_ x a.i ^i -r _ 11 t L .1 j in tugeiuer regaru:e$5 01 an cumiun auu with no regard aa to the nature of the crime of which they are accused; it may be petty larceny or it may be conspiracy against the Government, or even murder. The cages are so arranged that one side of them faces to the outside, and even in the most severe weather this wooden ' /-j shutter cannot be closed except by permission of the governor of the jail. If the prisoner is arrested in the winter timo and happens to have on at the time a good supply of heavy, warm clothing, he is fortunate, as neither the jailor nor the Government furnish clothing to the prisoners except straw sandles and a thin cotton gown reaching from the neck to midway below the knees. This is the entire wardrobe of a prisoner whose clothes are worn out. At night a thick quilted cotton blanket is given each Erisoner, and it answers all purposes of ed and bedding, but even this is removed in the morniDg and cannot be used as a protection against the severity of the weather. Food is served three times a. day, but in such small quantities as to hardly do L11U1C tllilli OUOUllU UiUi iuo Awvi vvu~ Bists of boiled rice, and vegetables in very small quantities?a handful of rice and about one or, perhaps, one-half of a pars Dip or carrot, and sometimes a very small amount of cabbage. Meat is never 6erved by the prison officials, but the prisoner's friends may send him in some after answering innumerable and utterly useless questions. Should the well meaning friend fail to answer any one of these questions to the satisfaction of the jailor, the prisoner gets no meat, and is , very likely to be punished himself by having his already meagre prison fare reduced. . , If a prisoner has money he can get letters sent to his friends after his examination before the secret tribunal, but no s writing is permitted before that time. Six months must always elapse before he comes before this secret court and sometimes a much longer period. At the end of this examination, if his judges think him guilty, he is taken into the public courts and there tried again, but ne can never see his lawyer except in the presence of two jail officials. Should the prisoner be dissatisfied with the verdict of the open courts his only appeal can be made to the Daishin-ru (the court of supreme judgment) from whose decision i there is no appeal. i While awaiting trial the prisoner is j kept in the jail or house of detention de' scribed above and has no work to do; but after trial, if found guilty, he is taken to the criminal prison, where the arrangements are much like those of the jail, and at once put to work. The kind of work which he does depends largely upon what trade he knows, and the articles are sold by the Government. If he should not know any trade the criminal is set to work on the roads or breaking sione. wiine ut wum, iuc pnouutu mo bound together with a strong rope around the waist of each, and watched over and kept hard at work by an armed guard. In the prison as in the jail there is much the same treatment, only it is somewhat worse in the prison, because there the prisoners work all day and yet receive no better or more food or clothing. No distinction is made between prisoners after trial; whether they are political or 1 criminal, all are treated alike, and it often happens that a murderer may be placed in the same cage and work with a man i sentenced for some slight offence. The female prisoners fare much as the men and are in the same building, only separated by a thin partition from that porI tion occupied by the male prisoners. The ! head of the prison is the Governor, under ! tiOmm nr? all the officers. Under the of ficcrs there is yet another class of attendants, chosen from among the prisoners, and whose duty it is to do the more menial prison work. Should any prisoner dare to say that a thin cotton garment and a pair of straw sandals was insufficient clothing for work in the open air, during the severest winter weather, or that a handful of rice and a single turnip at a meal would not enable him to work, he is j punished in one of three ways. His | scanty allowance of food may be so reI duced that unless he becomes tractable j he will eventually starve to death, or he j may be placed; in a dark, solitary cage and fed on rice and water until there is not enough strength left in his body to | enable him to walk, or two pieces of iron may be strapped on either side of nis body from the armpit down each leg to the ankle, thus obliging him to remain in a standing position until the jailors think his punishment severe enough. Should any prisoner undergoing this punishment persist in falling down to obtain any rest, he is placed upon a High platform just large enough for him to af stand on, and from which a fall means i"| certain death. When there is nothing else for the prison attendants to do they amuse themselves by beating the prisoners through the bars of the cage. As the prisons have absolutely no sanitary arrangements disease among the inmates is by no means an uncommon occurence. The hospital is a small number of cages portioned off from the rest of the prison, and here the sick are j)laced in cages twenty by twenty feet square, | sometimes as many as twelve or fifteen I being in one cage. The insane aro ] placed ill among the other sick prisoners and no particular attention is given j them. If they become noisy they are beaten by the attendants, and even when (juiet they arc often annoyed and teased I to amuse the prison keepers; Medical service can be had in name only, the jail 1 or prison physician looking at each j patient in the most literal sense of the j word. Once a day the doctor visits the I sick and walks among the cages, looking I .it but not sneakiny to cach patient. When this form is ended the sick are left to the care of the attendants, who are at liberty to treat them as thev see fit. If a sick person dies during the "night without attendance the body is taken away in the morning, not before.?New York Tilegram. , i Certain hollows in hard sandstone near j Lima, Peru, were ascribed by Lyell to j ancient sea-action before the rocks were | elevated above ocean level. A resident j observer, however, finds the hollows to ' be still increasing in size and number, j and believes them to be due to cleavage j causod by the growth of lichen which j live on the rocks.